The City's response to PerthNow about the Auditor General's report into local government management of purchasing cards, 4.6.25
The City thanks the Office of the Auditor General for the conduct of this performance audit.
The findings of the Office of the Auditor General’s performance audit align with the findings of a separate credit and purchasing card internal audit that the City had performed in 2024/25.
The City values the insight the Office of the Auditor General has provided. The community must be confident that the City has appropriate controls in place for purchasing cards and guidance for their use by the City. This includes setting expectations on reasonable business use for expenditure for items such as travel, alcohol, meals, entertainment and gifts to staff.
The Office of the Auditor General has previously highlighted the need for local governments to provide policy guidance on reasonable business use. As a result, when Council considered the Civic Hospitality and Gifts Policy at the 13 May 2025 Council meeting, it resolved to “REQUEST a further report to be presented to the June 2025 Governance Committee meeting to respond to the Office of Auditor General’s guidance on the need to develop clear policy guidance for employees and Elected Members on what is allowable and reasonable business expenditure on meals, entertainment and hospitality.”
The City will implement the findings of this Office of the Auditor General Performance Audit and report on them to the Minister for Local Government as well as to the City’s Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee, and Council.
Read the full report at the Office of the Auditor General's
website.